You are here

Concerto Competition winners appear with UW Symphony in upcoming performances

Submitted by Joanne De Pue on February 17, 2016 - 11:52am

Winners of the School of Music’s 2015 Concerto Competitions perform their winning entries with the UW Symphony in two upcoming concerts

Strings competition winner Hye Jung Yang, cello, appears with the UW Symphony on its March 11 program, performing the first movement of Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129. 

A student of Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir who is earning a doctoral degree in cello performance, Hye Jung earned a bachelor’s degree in orchestral instruments at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea and master’s degrees in pastoral studies (Multnomah University) and education (Portland State University).

In addition to her cello studies, Hye Jung has served as principal cellist with the UW Symphony Orchestra and performed throughout the 2014-15 academic year as a member of Trio Andromeda, winners of the 2014 UW Strings and Piano Chamber Ensemble Competition.

Runner-up in the strings divisional competition was Yi Zhou, viola, a graduate student of Melia Watras, who performed the Bartok Viola Concerto.

Two divisional competition winners--ZeZe Xue and Andrew Abel--are set to perform with the UW Symphony on its year-end concert June 3 at Meany Theater.

Keyboard winner ZeZe Xue, piano, performs the first movement of the Rachmaninoff Piano concerto no. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. A student of Craig Sheppard in his second year at the UW, ZeZe Xue is from Changsha in southern China.  Last summer, he performed the Second Rachmaninoff Concerto with the Changsha Philharmonic.  Previous to his arrival in Seattle, he studied for two years in Vienna.

Andrew Abel, tuba, a student of Chris Olka, performs Vaughan Williams’s Tuba Concerto. A junior earning a bachelor’s degree in instrumental performance, Abel has performed with a number of notable ensembles, including the Seattle and Boston Symphony Orchestras. As a freshman music student, Abel was awarded the tuba fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) in Lennox, MA, where he performed with the TMC Orchestra. As a soloist, Andy won first prize in the 2013 Music Teacher National Association Senior Brass Recital Competition in Anaheim, CA. 

Runner-up of the keyboard divisional competition was Hyun Su Seo, a fourth-year student of Robin McCabe who performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1, S. 124.

Laura Colmenares, flute, was selected as alternate in the woodwinds and brass divisional competition with her performance of the first movement of Jacques Ibert’s Concerto.

More information about the March 11 Symphony concert is available here.

More detail about the June 3 Symphony concert is here.

 

Share